The use of computer systems and computer-related technologies continues to increase at a rapid pace. This increased use of computer systems has influenced the advances made to computer-related technologies. Indeed, computer systems have increasingly become an integral part of the business world and the activities of individual consumers. Computer systems may be used to carry out several business, industry, and academic endeavors. The wide-spread use of computers has been accelerated by the increased use of computer networks, including the Internet. Many businesses use one or more computer networks to communicate and share data between the various computers connected to the networks. The productivity and efficiency of employees often requires human and computer interaction.
Computer technologies used by consumers and by the business world continue to demand that the efficiency of these technologies increase. These demands have included demands to improve security related to sensitive information that may be shared between users of computers. For example, a user may desire to protect certain content that is shared with other users such that the content is not altered, deleted, shared with unauthorized users, etc.
Rights Management Services (or Systems) (RMS) is a technology that provides selective functionality denial that may be used for limiting the uses of certain content that may be shared between users. The content may be encrypted such that only authorized users may decrypt the content. In addition, specific operations including printing, copying, editing, forwarding, and deleting may be allowed or disallowed by owners of the encrypted content.
Users of RMS may desire the services to efficient and customizable for each piece of protected content. As a result, benefits may be realized by providing systems and methods for creating an RMS that includes superior layers and subordinate layers in order to efficiently manage and control access rights to content protected by the RMS.